


The Tangerine Trio

by Alphum



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alive Sabo (One Piece), Alternate Universe, Boa Hancock wants to marry Ace, Crocodile is also about to catch these Fire Fists, Doflamingo is about to catch these Fire Fists, Gen, Portgas D. Rouge Lives, Rouge curb stomped Arlong, Warlord Portgas D. Ace, ace grows up in cocoyashi, ace nami and nojiko are siblings, i dont want to tease too much but like, no beta we die like men, slaps roof of fic i can fit so many aus in this bad boy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:55:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28427394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alphum/pseuds/Alphum
Summary: Many years ago, disillusioned Navy officer Bellemere met Pirate Queen-turned-fugitive Rouge Portgas.Many years later, their children Ace, Nojiko, and Nami set out to become pirates. One of their mothers is delighted while the other is aghast.How many things are different because Ace grew up just a few islands over? Sniper Nami? First Mate Nojiko? Ace becomes the Youngest Warlord Ever? Befriending the kid who's wearing Ace's Dad's hat? A global revolution that Ace actually lives through?
Relationships: Bell-mère & Nami & Nojiko, Bell-mère/Portgas D. Rouge, Nami & Nojiko & Portgas D. Ace, Portgas D. Ace & Portgas D. Rouge
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	The Tangerine Trio

It was warm and sunny out. There was a light breeze blowing through the grass and leaves, tugging playfully at his clothes as he blinked himself back into hazy awareness. He yawned and shifted, spreading his arms to soak up the mottled sunlight falling through the leaves.

Nami was sitting beside him. Her sketchbook was open in her lap and cartographers tools were strewn around her. Her fingertips were covered in black smudges from her pencils and she was holding a ruler in her mouth.

Ace waited until she pulled her pencil away from her paper. “Getting close to inking?” He guessed.

“Mm.” She nodded.

Ace rolled onto his side to watch her work. Her stained fingers were precise and exacting, nail beds pressed white with the pressure she was using to hold her paper steady.

“Hey, you guys missed lunch again!” Nojiko hollered from somewhere back towards the house.

“Aw.” Ace pouted.

Nami giggled.

“Did you bring me anything?” He twisted around to look back at where her voice was coming from.

“Well, Mom said since you missed a meal you were probably dead.” Nojiko appeared shortly after her voice. She was carrying a bundle of something that was knotted up neatly in a scarf. “Mama said it’d take more than that to kill you though.” She grinned.

Ace laughed.

“Yours is back at the house.” Nojiko handed Nami the bundle.

Ace pouted again. “Mean.”

“Like you haven’t been out here eating tangerines all morning.” Nojiko scoffed as she flopped down in the grass beside Ace.

“Yeah, but still!”

“You can have half of my sandwich.” Nami said graciously, as if she were bestowing a great boon.

“I knew there was a reason you were my favorite sister.” Ace beamed at her before yelping in pain. “Ow! Noji, that hurt!” He clutched his side protectively.

She stuck her tongue out at him. 

Nami interjected before their squabble could progress any further. “Ace, you’re leaving soon, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right.” He nodded, wary of the sudden change in topic.

“Nami--” Nojiko frowned warningly.

“I want to go with you.” Nami said, interrupting whatever Nojiko had been about to say. 

“Nami, no way, it’s not safe!” Nojiko interjected.

Ace took half of the sandwich she held out to him and took a bite, thinking.

“It’ll be just as safe for me as it would be for Ace!” Nami scowled. “Why is it okay for him to go but not me?” 

“Because it’s different!” Nojiko blustered.

Ace held up a hand between them, interceding. He frowned slightly at Nojiko. “Hey. I’d never take someone out to sea that wasn’t ready.”

Nami deflated.

He turned to her. “Nami, do you know how to fight?” He asked plainly.

She shrugged a shoulder. “I mean, yeah, I fight with you all the time.” She muttered.

“Yeah, you fight, but what would you do in a fight?” He offered. “Would you be in the middle of it with me?”

She shifted uncomfortably. He knew that she hated being in the middle of a fight. She hated it, much preferring to stay behind Ace or whatever the closest obstacle was. It wasn’t a bad thing, in Ace’s opinion. Running was just as good of an option as fighting. It just wasn’t nearly as fun. “I can shoot.” She offered after a moment.

“Yeah?” Ace grinned slightly. “You any good?”

She smiled slightly and nodded, just a little shyly. “Mom takes me to the shooting range sometimes. It’s fun. I like her rifle the best, but her pistols are cool too.”

“Cool.” Ace nodded. “You can be my sniper.”

Nami’s shriek of joy was matched in volume by Nojiko’s cry of dismay. “No way! It’s way too dangerous!” She protested. Nami completely ignored her in favor of flopping across Ace’s prone form and hugging him. 

“I knew there was a reason you’re my favorite brother!” She cheered.

Ace wrapped an arm around her and patted her on the back, looking over at Nojiko. “We can’t baby her forever, y’know.” He gave her a softer smile. 

Nojiko sighed, putting her head in her hands.

Ace felt a little guilty about that. 

“You two are such idiots.” She groaned.

Okay, less guilty now.

“You two are really just going to run off and become pirates?” She rubbed at her forehead.

“Yup.” Ace nodded. 

“Yeah. Being a pirate is way cooler than being stuck on an island for the rest of my life because of Mama’s stupid fear of traveling.” Nami scoffed. “I want to get out and see the world and draw it all! What’s the use of making maps if I never get to see what I’m drawing?” She thumped her sketchbook with a frown. “There’s more to life than just Mom’s tangerine farm and Mama’s weaving!”

Nojiko sighed. The sound was more a hiss than a huff. “Nami, that’s the stuff that makes life worth living!” She argued. “Mom’s put so much love into this place and Mama puts so much love into what she makes-- isn’t love enough?”

“Hey, hey.” Ace interrupted. Nami’s brow was twisting in that way that meant she was getting angry. “Girls, come on, don’t fight like this.” He sat up, dumping Nami into his lap and grabbing Nojiko’s arm to drag her closer until they were all sitting in a heap. “Nami, Nojiko’s right; love is important. But Noj, Nami’s right too. Maps and charts are what she loves and the sea is what I love.”

Nojiko sighed again. This time it was more of a gust than anything else. “You two are such idiots.” She grumbled. “I can’t believe it. I’m really gonna have to come with you two just to keep an eye on you, aren’t I?” She pouted, but it was half a grin.

Nami gasped and then let out another shriek of joy, throwing herself across Ace to tackle Nojiko.

“Oof!” Ace went down with a knee in his gut.

It took a while for all of them to settle down again, Nami holding tightly to Nojiko and grinning, Ace leaning against Nojiko’s other side.

Ace considered for a while. “Are you sure about this? Nami, sure, I get, but Noji, you’ve always said you’ll run the farm after Mom.” 

Nojiko looked down at her hands, plucking a few strands of grass to play with. “Yeah. I wanna take over for Mom one day, but I want to sail with you two.” She smiled to herself. “It’s selfish of me, really. I think of you two off having fun without me and it just… makes me jealous. You’ll both have so much fun out there. I want to go with you. Have fun with you for just a little longer, y’know?” 

Ace smiled. “Good thing pirates are selfish then, huh?”

“The most selfish!” Nami grinned. “I’m glad you’re coming with, Noji, you can help me keep this knucklehead alive!” 

“It’ll be like we’re playing Pirates again!” Ace laughed.

“I’m-- wait, you said I was going to be the sniper?” Nami frowned. “I thought I would be the navigator.”

“You can do both!” Ace grinned. “Think about it, a whole office in the crows nest!” He stood, spreading a hand out to paint an imaginary picture.

“Really? That’ll be so cool!” Nami grinned, bouncing up in her excitement.

“And what do I get to do?” Nojiko held up her hands to them.

They both grabbed a hand and hauled her to her feet.

“Why, I’d be lost without my first mate, after all!” He darted around them both and bent, shoving a shoulder into each of their knees as he lifted. Nami flailed as Nojiko yelped and clung to Ace’s hair as he stood up with each of them sitting on one of his broad shoulders. “First mate and navigator already designated and we haven’t even got a ship yet!” He squeezed both of them in a hug around their legs.

Nojiko scoffed out a laugh and Nami shook her head. “Like I’d let you make any decisions about a ship without me!” Nami tugged at a strand of his hair.

“You three look like you’re having fun.”

They all looked up and beamed in unison at the woman making her way through the trees. She was tall and slim with snowy white hair covered by a sunhat. She was leaning on a well-worn cane that was almost hidden in the billowing folds of her skirt.

“Hey Mama!” Ace knelt down to let Nami and Nojiko stand again.

“I heard you all out here and thought I’d bring you your lunch, sweetheart.” On the tray of her walker was another bundle of food, tied neatly with a scarf.

“Yes! I knew it!” Ace bounced over to her. He bent down and pressed a kiss to her cheek as he took the bundle.

“And best not let Bellemere hear you three talking about running off to become pirates.” Her next smile was just as sweet as the last but was colored with mischievousness. 

“Hear you three talking about what?” Bellemere was the next one to come picking her way through the trees.

“Your birthday present, darling.” Rouge’s smile didn’t twitch a bit, reminding Ace that yes, she had absolutely been a pirate when she was younger, no matter what she was doing in her “retirement” to pass the time.

“Hmm.” Bellemere eyed them all. Nami and Nojiko smiled angelically. Something Ace had never mastered. She narrowed her eyes at his shifty grin. “As long as you three don’t blow up the damn house again, anything is fine.”

Ace couldn’t help his grin widening. “Hear that girls?” He slapped each of them on the back. “She said anything’s fine!”

Nojiko smothered a giggle and Nami ducked her head to hide her grin.

Bellemere frowned at Ace. “Why do I feel like I’m going to regret that?” She sighed to Rouge.

“I have no idea, darling.” Rouge said serenely. “Now, you wanted to show me the new irrigation system?”

Nami, Nojiko, and Ace burst into excited giggles as soon as they were gone. It devolved into the three of them in a pile in the grass laughing together.

Ace didn’t think he’d ever been happier in his life. He was going to set out with both of his sisters. He was pretty sure that life didn’t get better than this. He settled down for another nap as Nami and Nojiko began discussing plans. Wow, plans? Ace was just going to wing it and see what happened. This was awesome. His sisters were awesome. His life was awesome.

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this, leave a comment and let me know! <3
> 
> updates are probably going to be pretty infrequent but feel free to check me out on tumblr @ InAweOfDiana or bug me to write more on my new writing twitter @ byakuhood
> 
> Thanks for reading, stay safe and healthy! <3


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